Hi All,
can anybody suggest a powder that is electrically conductive and
is also transparent ?
I want to build a special solarcell and still need to know how I can best
use some powder to use in a paint mix, so that this mix is transparent
and still conducts electricity very well.
I know, that TinOxid is used in solar cells as the electrode
material put onto the glas layer, but I wonder,
if normal tinoxid powder is also conductive and transparent,
when I want to use it as a "painting mix" with some binder material...
What other substances could be used in a paint solution to just paint
a conductive top layer onto some other materials that will
be electrically conductive and will be transparent to let the sunshine through ?
Many thanks.
Regards, Stefan.
G'day Stefan,
As far as I know most metal oxides are dielectrics.
Your best bet is gold vapour. This has been used in a lot of applications where both conductivity and transparency is required. A gold vapour layer 1 molecule thick is still transparent.
Hans von Lieven
perhaps you could use an electrolytic solution with a strong electrolyte, you would not be able to let it dry out, but you could sandwich it between two layers of glass. You would have extreem transperency and great conductivity.
@armagdn03
I need it for the second electrode in a selfmade solarcell,
so I would prefer a nonliquid electrode,
but maybeif the other substances are notwater soluable,
then saltwater or NaOH would work ?
@Hans,
well gold is pretty expensive and I don?t know how to generate 1 atom layer
of gold with an household setup without a chemlab ?? :P
Quote from: hartiberlin on November 15, 2007, 12:30:17 PM
Hi All,
can anybody suggest a powder that is electrically conductive and
is also transparent ?
I want to build a special solarcell and still need to know how I can best
use some powder to use in a paint mix, so that this mix is transparent
and still conducts electricity very well.
I am a little confused as to what you are trying to do. Can you expand on your theory?
One of my suppliers has a materials expert and may be able to help if I can provide more information to her.
ERS
Tin oxide is conductive and dries clear,Zinc oxide is conductive but white in color.Used in paints a lot.I have made zinc oxide at home by accident.I guess a thin enough layer would allow a lot of light to pass through.I used( a baking soda solution )with two zinc-plated bolts in that solution and ran a current from a dc adapter through the solution,much to my surprise a really white layer of zinc oxide formed on one bolt.I would guess you could make your own tin oxide the same way but how would you see it?Triffid
Iodine solutions are conductive too..Triffid
A gold colloidal solution might do the trick.It would be a few atoms thick once dried on your glass plate.You would have to use trial and error.To get it right.You can make a gold colloidal solution by dipping two pieces of 24 k gold in distilled water and run a dc current through it for 15 minutes(from a dc adapter).Pour the solution(enough of it) to cover the glass plate.And let it dry through evaporation over the next few days.I have not done this but it seems to me this would work.Triffid
I think a real problem with this method is the gold atoms would be too easily washed away.I did not know how to fix the gold onto the glass plate(unless you want want to try heating the dried glass plate
in the oven at max temp for several hours?).Just a guess.Triffid
Elmers glue dries clear.I used this fact once to make a copper oxide solar cell.I glued a piece of metal window screen(after I burned the plastic off of the window screen) on top of the copper sheet to make a electrical connection.Once dried the sunlight hits the copper oxide layer ok around the wires of the window screen.You might be able to make elmers glue conductive with some trial and error.You can always use carbon powder in one of your experiments or metal powders.Triffid
Most window screens are protected from rusting with a plastic coating.So you have to burn the plastic off to make a good electrical connection.Triffid
http://www.mansolar.com/bauen.htm solarzelle bauen DE
http://www.mansolar.com/function.htm " GB
Hi Stefan,
Bayer produces a conductive transparant polymer coating called Baytron P
Not sure sure how conductive it is, but perhaps you can get a sample from them.
http://www.chemie.de/news/e/1272/
Quote from: hartiberlin on November 15, 2007, 12:30:17 PM
Hi All,
can anybody suggest a powder that is electrically conductive and
is also transparent ?
I want to build a special solarcell and still need to know how I can best
use some powder to use in a paint mix, so that this mix is transparent
and still conducts electricity very well.
I know, that TinOxid is used in solar cells as the electrode
material put onto the glas layer, but I wonder,
if normal tinoxid powder is also conductive and transparent,
when I want to use it as a "painting mix" with some binder material...
What other substances could be used in a paint solution to just paint
a conductive top layer onto some other materials that will
be electrically conductive and will be transparent to let the sunshine through ?
Many thanks.
Regards, Stefan.
use colloidial Silver you can make it cheaply yourself or you can buy it in health food stores.
"Silver is the best natural conductor of electricity, followed by copper, gold, and aluminum."
http://www.elec-toolbox.com/theory.htm#valence
If you have some left over you can drink some its good for you. Google it
professor
You can freely collect the material otherwise known as chemtrail for use in your project!
Surely if you have a colloidal solution dry up, what you're left with
is a very thin (couple of atoms thick) layer of gold or silver or whatever
was in your solution?
And although the solution may seem transparent, is that not just
because there's so much water in respect to the small amount of
silver or gold in there? Meaning that, when the water is removed,
you are simply left with silver or gold powder?
To my knowledge, silver nor gold are transparent, even in very thin layers...
(ok, that depends on how thin and what wavelength, as monoatomic
and even several atoms thick layers can be partially transparent to
certain wavelengths, but that's more like a quantum "two slit" trick...
Doesn't work very well for visible light, I seem to recall.)
No, the conductive polymers are probably a better chance.
Im not sure do I have permission to open my mouth in this topic but Google srearch gives lot of when inserted Transparent Conductor.
I dont know what kamrade Hartmann did in Universität Berlin, at least myself I got some expierences about similar things, for example to get light-emitting layer of different metals on to glass for example ... it was ca somewhere in 1975 ::) Perhaps we are so different men - I was extreme interested about all what way-out novel. Right now I can not remember how exact we called this technology ...
Even needed amount of Gold for to do it costs less than bottle of brandy :o
Gruss,
Khabe
you could always try a FBE paint or powder coated clear coat of 10 mil ...
http://store.columbiacoatings.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=A8799015&reference=/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi%3Fsearch%3Daction%26keywords%3Dall%26searchstart%3D12%26template%3DPDGCommTemplates/HTN/SearchResult.html%26category%3DMTPW (http://store.columbiacoatings.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=A8799015&reference=/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi%3Fsearch%3Daction%26keywords%3Dall%26searchstart%3D12%26template%3DPDGCommTemplates/HTN/SearchResult.html%26category%3DMTPW)
It is elecrtostatic in non clear form , once bonded at high temperature it become plastified , unsure if it retain as much conductivity as when applied with a electro gun